Sunday, September 30, 2007

Apparently they do. I found these shoes while searching for some updated images for some ads I'm trying to put in my mini-book. England based Punitive Shoes sells a whole bunch of different styles of this "ballet shoe" (even boots!). All I can say is: If this catches on in the U.S, I don't care if Beyonce rocks these; I can't do it, I won't do it.

Saturday, September 29, 2007

School starts back on Monday! What the eff?Where did the time go? I guess I slept it all away.

I was supposed to have done a mini-book of my work for this scholarship opportunity that's coming up in October. I've never done a mini-book, so I don't know what I'm doing. All I've done is made a list of what I want to include in my book, but the actual book-forming, I don't have a clue.

I think I know in my head what I want; making it a reality, however, is a different thing.We'll see how this goes.

Friday, September 28, 2007

I don't know if my body knows that school is about to start back (Monday) or what, but I've been sleeping over 12 hours everyday. Yesterday I slept until 3:30pm - just in time to see my favorite shows on TLC (heehee).

I've just decided to embrace my laziness and possibly make another movement (big ups to all my peeps in Mississippi and everywhere else Rockin' their Thumb Drives!!!!).

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Are Rihanna and Victoria "Posh Spice" Beckham the same person? Have we ever seen them at the same place at the same time? NOPE!

*Side note: This is the haircut I've always wanted but have been too scared to get. *

In other news: I used to think that my girl Beyonce and Latin superstar Shakira were the same person until they did that video for Beautiful Liar together. I thought it still could've been some crazy video editing skills, but when they performed together I finally shut up.

Monday, September 24, 2007

...last Thursday? (HA! I made it seem like it was a long time ago huh?) Well one of the friends I was with whipped out her camera phone, recorded us at the club, and posted it on her blog. Let me just preface this video by saying, this was right at the cusp of my drunkedness (I'd just started to feel it hella hard).

I would tell you my favorite parts (there are two) but I don't wanna ruin it for y'all. Hey, we can make it a game; try to guess which 2 parts I think are the funniest. And if you've already read my comment on Chrissy's blog DON'T CHEAT, you CHEATER-McGEES! You gotta listen hard because you know how drunk people change the subject without knowing, heehee. The grand prize is ONE BAZILLION DOLLARS which I will draw by hand and email you. GO!

Saturday, September 22, 2007

I'm currently in Mississippi to attend a baby shower for one of my bestest friends in the world, Rhea! The drive wasn't as horrible as it always used to seem, maybe because instead of watching the clock (it takes 5.5 hours) I was just popping in old CDs and singing lyrics that I used to love. Well I gotta go try to salvage my hair in some way and buy a present. I'll try my best not to get arrested, lynched, or sold into slavery while I'm out here.

Friday, September 21, 2007

How can a day that started out so self-esteemingly well, end up not so great?First, please excuse any made up words and/or typos as I am currently drunk blogging. Sorry, it was either drunk blog or no Friday Rap Up.

Earlier today I was on cloud nine, I went to my weight loss doctor and found out I've lost 10 pounds in the last month. Yay for Tracie! Earlier in the week a couple of my female writing cohorts and I decided that we'd go out for "girls night" this week.

I think I now remember why I stopped going out. At first I was having a good time; it wasn't until the end of the night (in a drunken state) that I realized not one guy had tried to talk to me. I mean, c'mon guys, really? I have a new haircut, I just lost 10 pounds, I'm cute, and I had on strappy heels (at first, child I had to switch to flip flops as soon as we got in there - YES, I brought flip-flops to the club!). So dudes, what the eff?

So now I'm in a not so yay mood. I'm drunk, tired, my hair isn't cute anymore, and for what? Nothing. This whole "Black Hollywood" image that ATL is adopting is not so good for me. I've done L.A, men don't like me out there. ATL must be following suit. I may need to move back to the CHI where they like their women homegrown.

Anyway, here's the rap up. It's not funny. It's rather sad, I think. I'm gonna go cry myself to the toilet, throw up, and then cry myself to sleep. **I usually take off my glasses when I do my rap ups, but I forgot and didn't wanna do it over, so whatev.**

I signed the petition months ago not knowing that it would blow up to be this large. But it's time, y'all, that injustices happening to us (still) in Mississippi and Louisiana get noticed. After living in Mississippi for as long as I did, I realized that the rest of the country doesn't even know half of the stuff that goes on there. Like, I bet not a lot of you (non-Mississippians) know about the lynching that took place in MS just 3 years ago. There was also a 17 year old lynched in Mississippi back in 2000, supposedly for his relationship with 2 white girls. This one was ruled a "suicide," but let me just tell y'all, we don't hang ourselves from trees (especially with a belt that's not ours). It's just the principle of the thing. REALLY.

Rev. Jesse Jackson and a bunch of folks actually came to MS to rally when the 17 year old was found, but it didn't get much press outside of Mississippi.

I usually don't get too riled up about any particular thing, but this issue really hit home. I'm glad the nation is finally able to see the harsh realities we (as black folk) are still facing in the deep, slow-changing, south.

Sugarland sings Beyonce? REALLY? No, REALLY!!!(Have we all gotten yet that REALLY is the new thing I'm saying? It's fun.)

This reminds me of my olden days as a board operator for the Clear Channel radio stations in Jackson, MS. It was one of several radio gigs I got after college. Imagine one building that held every kind of radio, from rock to R&B, oldies to sports talk. This job was cool though, I just came in around 7pm and stayed until midnight, every night. Never really had to do any work; computers do it all these days. Sometimes I'd work on my own radio reel, other times I'd head into the country station (the only station with a television) and watch Lifetime until it was clock out time. It was then my love of country music was born, but hidden. It is only now that I can finally step out of my shell and say DAMN IT, I LIKE LEANN RIMES and that show Reba (Lifetime) is a riot! This video only serves to prove yet another one of my Yonce' theories: Beyonce's music knows no boundaries.

Anyway, let's gon' head and git down right country wit our bad selves! May I also point out that the people in the crowd already know the song!! teehee.

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

So I found Mr. Long Name on Myspace. Why is his name Darnell? Like, in real life that's his whole first name. On his Myspace page he has Darnell and then he has "John" in quotations. So I guess he could've told me his name was Darnell and then said, "...but people call me John." On the whole page he talks about himself in the third person. I've renamed him Creepy McCreepsterPants. How's that for long names?

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

...you end up entering yourself in online karaoke contests. Well, what's done is done. Vote for me y'all!! Whoomp-Whoomp! OH! Listen all the way to the end...I put some dope "Silk-like" hollerin' at the end. YES!

DISCLAIMER: I am not a trained singer by any means, so please do not look at me differently when you hear the tremendously foul notes I hit in this recording.

Monday, September 17, 2007

2. Pushed play on the VCR when your daddy told you not to and saw your first porn.

3. Put a twin mattress on your staircase, sat in a cardboard box, and slid down (the mattress is optional).

4. Ate at White Castle, a lot.

5. Tried to tell your parents the truth because you saw some kid on TV not get in trouble after telling the truth, only to find out that telling the truth doesn't work. That's when you came to the realization that TV life and real life are not one and the same.

6. Ran from gunfire every Sunday after the skating rink closed.

7. Gone to the skating rink just to dance in the middle of the rink, not to skate.

8. Cried when your mom and dad told you not to answer the door for ANYONE and 10 minutes later they knocked on the door, yelling for you to open it for them. Ooooohhhh, that's a mean trick, I can't wait to do it to my kids.

9. Worn a key on a shoestring around your neck. And lost it every other week.

10.Tasted snow salt (you know, that salt that you put down to clear your steps or your sidewalk of snow) and found out that table salt is better.

Saturday, September 15, 2007

Hello, my name is Tracie and I'm an online dater. (Hi, Tracie) Occasionally, I come across some really strange people. Now that my blogging class is officially over, I thought I'd start adding these strange encounters I have with men online.

A couple of days ago I met a guy from Chicago (my hometown) online. I thought he was still in Chicago because the location on his profile said so. After going back and forth with him with notes and messages, and finding out he was in Atlanta, we had a one on one chat. I told him my name, Tracie, and he wrote, "My name is long." I asked, "Your name is Long?" He said, "No, my name has a nice length - I have a long name."

Uhmmmm, okay.I asked him, "So do you think I won't be able to pronounce it?" He changed the subject, we kept talking, and I kind of forgot all about it. He asked for my number and when he called I remembered that I still didn't know his name. I asked if he was ever gonna tell me, and he said, "Well, my short name is Darnell." Huh? WTF?

I mean, who says, "My short name is...?" You just tell people your name and then say, "...but people call me..." right? I don't care if your name is Boobootayrammalammadingdong, when people ask for your name, you tell them your whole name, and then you tell them, "...but people call me Boo."

Just a word of advice for all you long-named guys out there: give women the benefit of the doubt. We can pronounce all kinds of coffee drinks, weave types, clothing and shoe designers; I'm sure we can pronounce your effed up name too. GEEZ!

This is why I only date during break. These jacked up dudes aren't gonna be messing with my mind during school.

Friday, September 14, 2007

Oh my damn! This one was a toughie y'all. When I counted up everything, I had 39 deliverables! GEEZ! My critique went great. I was kind of nervous because I thought I would go over the 20 minutes we are given to deliver our projects to the panel. I did go over, but not by much, so it was okay.

Overall, the panel loved my Darfur poster! If you can recall, this was the poster that got torn apart during the second week of classes when our teacher called in upper quarter students, teachers, and a regular guy (non-designer) to judge our work. I wrote about it. After going through so many concepts for that poster, it feels good to know that something I thought up turned out so well.

My Darfur Poster:The panel also loved my blog. For those of you who don't know, I only started this blog for my blogging class. We were supposed to try to talk about something interesting (I picked me), have a couple of features (Friday Rap Up and the occasional Thursday 13), and generate traffic (hey y'all!). I've had so much fun writing this blog (I was not looking forward to it initially) and I'm glad that other people enjoy it as well. Now I have a great blog that I look forward to taking as far as it can go.

This was the hardest quarter I've had to date, but in the end it feels wonderful to know that I did it, and did it well. YAY!

This rap up is a little different. I showed this in my critique; it summed up my 3rd quarter for the panel. It might not be that entertaining for those of you who have never attended PC, but hey, you win some and you lose some. At least my hair is semi-cute. Here it is, enjoy.

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

I've been working my butt off trying to get everything done for my critique which is TOMORROW!!! I had 2 group critiques tonight, but my groups were on point all quarter (I got lucky). It went well; I got a little tongue-tied in the middle of saying some stuff and had to take that awkward start over breath, but it was fine. You're always your worst critic right?

I know you guys are probably mad at me because I haven't been blogging very often. I can only ask for your patience while I finish off the hardest quarter I've had to date. I promise there'll be oodles of fun stuff when my break begins. I can't wait! I know, neither can you.

traciemae

OH! I got my hair done and quite a bit has been CUT OFF! YAY (no more naps) and YIKES (hair is short) at the same time!

Saturday, September 8, 2007

People know how much I love Beyonce, so I usually get all Beyonce related news, video, and gossip forwarded to me by at least one person. I think it's great when people love Beyonce as much as I do and try to reenact her choreography. My classmate (and soror) Karelia sent this to me.

All I can say is...gon' head boyyyy wit yo bad self!!

My favorite part: Snap for the kids (right after the Naomi Campbell walk).

Secretly, I'm a little upset that homeboy can bounce his booty better than I (only by a little bit). I'm gonna go practice up on that. Enjoy!

Friday, September 7, 2007

Hey everyone!As you can see it's 5 am and I'm still up. Studio week so far has been crazy! Today (well really yesterday) my classmates saw me running around like a wild woman trying to print out 4 posters and tile them together before my individual meeting with Kuperminc (my design teacher). They were all like, "We've never seen you run like that before!" Exercise isn't my thing, but I can still get a little pep in my step every now and then.

Also, this week I've been noticing more people around school wearing their thumb drives (or flash drives) around their necks. I always wear mine (if I bring it at all), so I thought it'd be cool if everybody just started wearing thumb drives as the new "hot" accessory.

"Eff platinum chains! I'm rocking 8 gigs," the people will shout. Rappers will start rhyming about how many gigs their drives can hold. Me? I have a one gig. I think I erase something from it on a daily basis in order to save something new. Maybe I'll get another one and rock TWO - beat that!

Sunday, September 2, 2007

It is now officially studio week at my school. Studio week is that crazy week of non-stop work we get in order to prepare for our critiques the following week. I've made a list and I have approximately 25 projects (everything from writing radio scripts to designing posters) due by my critique next Wednesday.

I've never had this much to present at critique and I'm hella nervous about pretty much everything. I can only try to do my absolute best and try to have everything look, and sound, as professional as possible.